Egypt and Turkey signed cooperation agreements covering transport, infrastructure, logistical connectivity, investment and free trade in Alamein on August 13. Ahram Online reported the developments on August 14, following the second meeting of the countries’ Joint Planning Group.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan co-chaired the meeting and signed its protocol. Representatives from investment, trade, petroleum, and health and population ministries also participated. The foreign ministers signed Egypt’s accession document to a memorandum on logistical connectivity involving transport ministries from several African countries and Turkey.
Egyptian Investment and Foreign Trade Minister Mohamed Farid Saleh and Fidan also signed a decision concerning rules of origin under the bilateral free-trade agreement. Those rules determine where goods are considered to originate for trade purposes. According to Egypt’s foreign ministry, the meeting followed up on decisions from the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council held in Cairo in February. The report documented signed cooperation instruments, rather than verified completion of new transport infrastructure or a measured increase in bilateral trade.